Delta has announced that it will be running non-stop flights between Austin and Amsterdam to coincide with the SXSW (South By South West) music/film/tech festival. Great news for Austin, but I'm curious if this could be a precursor to Delta adding more service to Austin (not necessarily INTL) once the 9-gate expansion is completed?

Delta has been quietly growing its destination count from AUS the past few years, with new service to LAX, SEA, BOS, and RDU. Of course, at this point that likely says more about its ambitions for those other markets than it does for AUS, but space permitting (which I know doesn't currently exist), I could see DL being interested in expanding there. It's a growing tech market in an area of the country that doesn't overlap with any other DL hub. That said, I could also see other airlines with a larger presence there than DL also wanting to expand.

I know this flight only operates for a couple weeks, but it's amazing to see how much TATL service AUS has garnered especially when you consider just a few years ago the city had never seen any transoceanic service. I do wonder if SAT, which is 80 miles to the SW, will ever see any kind of TO service. It's got to be frustrating to see your smaller neighboring city gain so many "prestigious" flights.

I know this flight only operates for a couple weeks, but it's amazing to see how much TATL service AUS has garnered especially when you consider just a few years ago the city had never seen any transoceanic service. I do wonder if SAT, which is 80 miles to the SW, will ever see any kind of TO service. It's got to be frustrating to see your smaller neighboring city gain so many "prestigious" flights.

"A couple of weeks" is a gross overstatement.

It is literally operating twice. That's it. And airlines are no stranger to adding service to cities for big conferences, events, etc., including Delta.

I know this flight only operates for a couple weeks, but it's amazing to see how much TATL service AUS has garnered especially when you consider just a few years ago the city had never seen any transoceanic service. I do wonder if SAT, which is 80 miles to the SW, will ever see any kind of TO service. It's got to be frustrating to see your smaller neighboring city gain so many "prestigious" flights.

"A couple of weeks" is a gross overstatement.

It is literally operating twice. That's it. And airlines are no stranger to adding service to cities for big conferences, events, etc., including Delta.

Actually, it is literally operating four times in each direction. Dates from AUS-AMS as follows:March 8, 2018March 9, 2018March 14, 2018March 18, 2018.

I know this flight only operates for a couple weeks, but it's amazing to see how much TATL service AUS has garnered especially when you consider just a few years ago the city had never seen any transoceanic service. I do wonder if SAT, which is 80 miles to the SW, will ever see any kind of TO service. It's got to be frustrating to see your smaller neighboring city gain so many "prestigious" flights.

"A couple of weeks" is a gross overstatement.

It is literally operating twice. That's it. And airlines are no stranger to adding service to cities for big conferences, events, etc., including Delta.

Actually, it is literally operating four times in each direction. Dates from AUS-AMS as follows:March 8, 2018March 9, 2018March 14, 2018March 18, 2018.

Flights are actually operated from AMS to AUS and back, by B763 aircraft that are parked at AMS.During W17 two B763 routes EWR-AMS and JFK-AMS are less than daily, so these B763 are over 24 hrs on ground at AMS and now used for this AUS service.

I know this flight only operates for a couple weeks, but it's amazing to see how much TATL service AUS has garnered especially when you consider just a few years ago the city had never seen any transoceanic service. I do wonder if SAT, which is 80 miles to the SW, will ever see any kind of TO service. It's got to be frustrating to see your smaller neighboring city gain so many "prestigious" flights.

Being a resident of SAT, I can tell you that we are for the most part very practical about our chances at getting TA service. Hence you won't see a monthly "When will SAT get a flight to Europe' thread on A.net!The international community in San Antonio is vastly Mexico oriented. There is some traffic to Germany but that in itself isn't sufficient to launch a route. Traffic to Asia(Korea, Japan, India) isn't burgeoning like it has happened in Austin. The runways are also not long enough. The airport officials aren't aggressive enough and atleast I haven't heard of any incentives being floated around to entice carriers. So, we are just happy for now if we can get someone to add flights to DCA, BOS, RDU and PDX. More frequencies on UA/DL to NYC would be nice.

Besides, San Antonio's forte is Military, Cyber Security and defense contractors. This is the type of traffic that will never use Condor, Norwegian or a seasonal special flight to AMS. It's good that AUS is getting all this service, but outside of BA the new additions don't benefit the SAT TA passengers much. I am not sure how much they even benefit the tech traffic out of AUS.

There is a saying here: If you die and want to go heaven you still have to change flights in Dallas or Houston. That's pretty much sums it up!

I know this flight only operates for a couple weeks, but it's amazing to see how much TATL service AUS has garnered especially when you consider just a few years ago the city had never seen any transoceanic service. I do wonder if SAT, which is 80 miles to the SW, will ever see any kind of TO service. It's got to be frustrating to see your smaller neighboring city gain so many "prestigious" flights.

There is a saying here: If you die and want to go heaven you still have to change flights in Dallas or Houston. That's pretty much sums it up!

Actually, the saying is "If you are going to Heaven or Hell, you've got to change planes in Atlanta, first.." but as it is a Texas thread, I get it.

Delta has been quietly growing its destination count from AUS the past few years, with new service to LAX, SEA, BOS, and RDU.

It would be interesting to see how many DL outstations have all the "dots" connected like AUS. Is there one? MCO?

MCO, FLL, and BNA have service to all DL's hubs + RDU, not sure there are any more. AUS is missing CVG, so it does not completely connect all of the dots. I feel like DL will eventually go for the CVG-AUS route, though their CVG-IAH/DFW service probably has kept them from adding it.

Some of you all should really chill out...if something like this is not interesting to you...move along and read about something else that DOES interest you. I made the title very specific, then asked a general question. There had been discussion several years ago of Delta ramping up Austin, and I was simply curious if there might be something more. No one said it would be the next JFK, or even a hub for that matter. In reality, the best Austin can hope for on that front would be focus city status. I think that the comparisons between AUS and SAT are very interesting as well. Additionally, when you live in Austin, during SXSW, you are usually either all-in or all-out. Many of us flee anywhere we can to avoid the crowds, traffic, congestion, and higher prices that come with hosting a major festival.

I wouldnt be surprised to see Delta add summer 2018 seasonal service. They see the great results BA is having they could feed into those connecting passengers.

LOL OMG now AUS is the new JFK. DFW can't even maintain seasonal service to AMS and you speculate that DL will add AUS-AMS

Big difference when DL can offer connections through AMS while AA can't. The KLM flight was only seasonal and I'm not sure what local business traffic it ever received. Made more sense just moving it to a DL hub (which is what ended up happening)

With that said, I highly doubt Austin will keep an AMS flight beyond SXSW.

Delta has been quietly growing its destination count from AUS the past few years, with new service to LAX, SEA, BOS, and RDU. Of course, at this point that likely says more about its ambitions for those other markets than it does for AUS, but space permitting (which I know doesn't currently exist), I could see DL being interested in expanding there. It's a growing tech market in an area of the country that doesn't overlap with any other DL hub. That said, I could also see other airlines with a larger presence there than DL also wanting to expand.

I wish they would fly some some ERJ's or turboprops between AUS and smaller markets in South Texas. It would be a great way to return to cities they have up when they abandoned their hub at DFW.